CO-04 (Special Election) See Full Big Line

(R) Greg Lopez

(R) Trisha Calvarese

90%

10%

President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) Deborah Flora

(R) J. Sonnenberg

30%↑

15%↑

10%↓

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

50%↓

50%↑

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

35%↓

30%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

September 21, 2015 12:39 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (Sept. 21)

1 Comments
by: Colorado Pols

Enjoy your final official days of Summer. It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► In a split decision, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Colorado is not violating the constitution by continually cutting education funds. From the Denver Post:

The court said Monday that the Dwyer lawsuit “plaintiffs’ complaint misconstrues the relationship between the negative factor and Amendment 23.”

“By its plain language, Amendment 23 only requires increases to statewide base per pupil funding, not to total per pupil funding,” the ruling states.

Since 2010, the state has cut nearly $1 billion in education spending using the negative factor. In the 2014-15 fiscal year, the negative factor allowed the state to cut about 13 percent from almost every district’s calculated budget.

► Congress is back “at work” after a controversial pair of votes on Friday in the House to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Some budget experts now suggest that there is a 75% chance that we will see a second federal government shutdown in three years.

► Back in Colorado, the FBI is warning local law enforcement officials about a risk of attacks against Planned Parenthood clinics and employees.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republican Presidential candidate Carly Fiorina is spin, spin, spinning like crazy as she tries to convince potential voters that she was not actually a disaster as CEO of Hewlett-Packard. It might be a little late for this. As the New York Times reports:

The moves are part of an extensive effort by Mrs. Fiorina and her supporters to redefine her rocky business reputation and fend off attacks on her as an unfit and heartless executive. Such accusations helped doom her 2010 Senate campaign in California. Democrats called her “Carly Fail-orina,” and the incumbent, Senator Barbara Boxer, depicted her as the face of corporate greed.

But Mrs. Fiorina’s mission to reshape her business image is colliding with a painful new chapter for the computer maker: Hewlett-Packard announced last week that it would slash as many as 30,000 jobs as part of a restructuring that will divide the tech behemoth into two publicly traded companies, which Mrs. Fiorina’s detractors view as a repudiation of her legacy…

…Still adamant that she was a successful chief executive, Mrs. Fiorina is acutely aware of the vulnerabilities her past presents in this race. But she also risks becoming bogged down in a defense of her record at the expense of her message as a political outsider who would bring conservative change to Washington — a message that has resonated with voters in recent weeks.

► President Obama has been in office for nearly seven years now, and we’re still talking about his birth certificate? Donald Trump and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) seem to have quite a bit in common.

► Elsewhere in inflammatory religious language, Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is taking heat for saying that a Muslim should not be elected President of the United States.

► Supporters of TABOR in Colorado are bellyaching that they haven’t been included in discussions being held by opponents of the so-called “Taxpayers Bill of Rights.” We’re not sure why this is even a story — why would anyone actively seek out the advice of their opponents? — but as Joey Bunch reports for the Denver Post:

Influential conservatives such as the Centennial Institute’s John Andrews and University of Colorado economist and TABOR expert Barry Poulson say they suspect the fix is in to deliver a conclusion that TABOR causes more problems for the state than it solves, and that the remedy is to weaken portions of the voter-approved law at the ballot box during the 2016 general election…

…”This is just a new name and a reformulation of the same old TABOR haters,” said Douglas Bruce, who wrote the 1992 constitutional amendment that requires lawmakers to gain voter approval for new taxes and that rebates some tax money when tax revenue exceeds population growth and inflation.

Bruce, Poulson and Andrews say their input has not been solicited.

A group called “Building a Better Colorado” kicks off a statewide tour today aimed at gathering citizen input for a potential 2016 ballot measure. “Building a Better Colorado” is indeed a bipartisan coalition, with prominent Republicans such as Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and former U.S. Senator Hank Brown part of a group that sees TABOR as preventing the State of Colorado from providing basic services such as K-12 education, law enforcement, transportation, and higher education.

► The Colorado Supreme Court has decided to, er, decide on the legality of local fracking bans in Colorado. The Court said today that it will hear arguments about two cases of local control of oil and gas development, one in Ft. Collins and another in Longmont.

► House Speaker John Boehner is widely rumored to be facing a potential coup attempt from right-wing Republicans, and he doesn’t seem to be in a good mood. As Boehner tells Politico:

“Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners, all right?”

► Pope Francis will be in the United States this week, and the Catholic leader will include a stop in Washington D.C. to speak to Congress. Republicans are trying to walk a careful line with Pope Francis, who has been outspoken in his calls for immigration reform, battling climate change, and income inequality, among other issues. Check out this handy “Pope Primer” guide from the Washington Post.

ICYMI

► Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says that the top 0.1% of Americans (the top 1/10th of 1%) have nearly as much combined wealth as the bottom 90% combined. Politifact rates Sanders’ claim as “Mostly True.”

► Texas Governor Greg Abbott would like to see the Dallas Cowboys sign Tim Tebow.

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One thought on “Get More Smarter on Monday (Sept. 21)”

Phoenix Rising says:

September 21, 2015 at 12:56 pm

Some GOP politicians are walking a not-so-fine line. They'd rather the Church go back to the days of Benedict, when the sexual rights of people other than straight, (or clerical) men were more the order of the day

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